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Football News: Higuain To Stay At Napoli, Man Utd Forced To Recall Keeper From Loan, Chris Brunt Ashamed Of Baggies Fans And Much More

Higuain To Stay At Napoli, Man Utd Forced To Recall Keeper From Loan, Chris Brunt Ashamed Of Baggies Fans And Much More
Image from: zimbio.com

1. Everton midfielder leaves club
Norwegian side Stromsgodset has moved to pick up a midfielder from Everton, Francisco Junior. The 24 year old initially joined Everton from Benfica after a successdul trial, but has only ever made one appearance for the Merseyside club, getting the hook at half time after an absolute stinker of a performance against Leeds United in the League Cup. Since then he has spent time on loan with Vitesse Arnhem, Stromsgodset, Port Vale and Wigan Athletic. Junior currently has an injury that he picked up while at Wigan and is staying with the Toffees for treatment before heading to Stromsgodset. "I am very happy to be back at the club." Junior told Stromsgodset's official website. "I have a good relationship with many at the club, and I'm sure this is the right place to be for my future development. Now I look only forward to getting started."

2. Man Utd recall keeper from loan
Having moved on Victor Valdes, the last thing Louis van Gaal needed right now was for David De Gea to join the legion of players sat on the sidelines after injury, but that is exactly what has happened. With back up Sam Johnstone also injured, Sergio Romero has become first choice, but cover was still needed just in case. The Red Devils have recalled 18 year old novice keeper Dean Henderson from his loan at Conference North side Stockport to provide some cover, as under-21 goalie Joel Pereira is cup tied after playing for Rochdale while on loan there this season. 14 players are currently on the treatment table for Man Utd.

 

3. Aubameyang wants Madrid move
Borussia Dortmund forward Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang has revealed that he dreams of a move to Real Madrid. Aubameyang has notched 30 goals for Dortmund this season, and has been linked with moves to Manchester United and Arsenal in recent months, with Paris Saint-Germain also said to be keen on the Gabon striker. Now it looks like even PSG's billions will not be enough to convince him to go there, if Madrid choose to move for him, after Aubameyang told L'Equipe: "In 2014, just before the death of my grandfather, who was born in Avila 100 kilometres from Madrid, I gave him the promise to play one day for Real," Aubameyang said. "It'll be complicated, but this (promise) is anchored to a corner of my heart."

4. Deila expects to stay in charge of Celtic
Celtic manager Ronny Deila expects to be in charge of Celtic next season, so loan as he wins the Scottish Premiership title this season. Inverness Caledonian Thistle proved little obstacle as Celtic ran out 3-0 winners to move six points clear of second placed Aberdeen. Despite failing to lead the Scottish giants into the group stages of the Champions League in either of his seasons in Glasgow, the Norwegian boss feels that he will be judged on winning the domestic league. The signing of Norwegian teenager Kristoffer Ajer has backed up his claims of being there for the long term. "I really, really expect to be here next season and that's what I want, of course," he said. "There is so much to do here and it's a very exciting team coming through now, with a lot of young talented players. Together with the experienced ones, things can be very good. I really want to continue and make this club successful. You don't get any assurances in football but what we have is communication and we communicate very well. But this question comes every week now and it's getting tiring to talk about. You tell me it's about results and now we are winning. We are in a good situation but if you start losing games it will become very even again. If we win games the others need to cope with that, which will be tough."

 

5. Pepe set for return from injury
Real Madrid are boosted as Portugese centre back Pepe is set to return to training next week. Pepe has been out for four weeks with a foot injury suffered in a 1-1 draw with Real Betis. Manager Zinedine Zidane said in AS: "He's in good spirits. The issue he has takes time. He's much better. The plan is for him to continue with what he needs to do in the coming days, and from Tuesday he'll be back with the group."

6. Brunt ashamed of Baggies fans
West Bromwich Albion's Northern Ireland international Chris Brunt has said he is ashamed of his team's fans after he was hit by a coin thrown by them after he went over to them after the 3-1 defeat to Reading, to thank them for their support. Despite the disappointment of the defeat, Brunt went over to thank fans and give his shirt to a young Albion fan in the crowd, only for someone to hit him just beneath his eye with a coin. As Brunt held up the coin asking who threw it, the fans starting fighting amongst themselves as stewards tried to intervene. "Our supporters obviously think it's okay to throw coins at their own players. It's absolutely disgusting," Northern Ireland international Brunt told BBC Sport. "I am ashamed of them today. If people come to matches and think it is acceptable to throw coins at footballers or anyone else, it is disgusting. If they want to come forward and say they don't like what they've seen then that's fine. Fans are frustrated, we were 1-0 up and lost. They paid a lot of money to come, but a small minority spoilt it. There were young kids there. I was absolutely disgusted and ashamed." "We have seen an incident today where a lad who has played over 300 games for this club could have had his eye out. That is not acceptable. I hope the police get involved, never mind the club. That is criminal," Baggies manager Tony Pulis said. "People have a drink before the game and you have incidents like this. This is one of the worst things I've seen, a coin thrown at him by one of his own supporters." The FA have confirmed on their website that they will be investigating the events that took place.

 

7. Call for transparent voting booths rejected by FIFA
One of the FIFA presidential candidates, Prince Ali Bin Al Hussein of Jordan, has demanded that transparent voting booths are used in next week's election, in order to ensure delegates do not take pictures of their ballot papers. FIFA rejected the demand, which Prince Ali has said he will now take to Court of Arbitration for Sport. Domenico Scala, head of FIFA's electoral committee has admitted that voters could take pictures in the booths but, according to a FIFA statement: "He (Scala) has said it is enough just to tell them they must not do so, and has rejected Prince Ali's request to use transparent voting booths," the statement said, adding that there was an "absence of any dedicated system to detect potential violations of this rule."

8. Transfer round up
Sheng Guo, Beijing Renhe to Nei Mongol Zhongyou, £38,000
Craig Henderson, Stabaek IF to GAIS Goteborg, free
Shuang Hao, Heibei China Fortun to Henan Billows, free
Diego Mauricio, Bragantino to Shijiazhuang Ever Bright, free
Sebastian Chitosca, Steaua Bucharest to Voluntari, on loan
Hao Luo, Guangzhou R&F to Nei Mongol Zhongyou, free
Mohamed Sissoko, released by Shanghai Shenhua
Franjo Delic, GOSK Gabela to ?
Vedad Dzafic, Bratstvo Gracanica to ?
Dimitrios Sialmas, unattached to Akropolis IF
Horia Crisan, unattached to Soimii Pancota
Kosmas Gezos, unattached to Akropolis IF

 

9. Rafa backs Bale to be the 'best'
Recently removed Real Madrid manager Rafael Benitez has said that Gareth Bale could become the best player in the world. Benitez has praised the Welsh star for his professionalism in training and on the pitch. "I never had a moment's problem with Gareth. He was a very solid professional who listened," the 55-year-old told reporters. "He did his work on the pitch and in the gym too. But what I see in him most is improvement. There are areas of his game that he continues to work on. He can get better. Obviously, he's a very good player now. But in a couple of years if he carries on, I don't see any reason why he could not be regarded as the best."

10. Higuain to stay with Napoli
Despite being linked with teams around Europe, former Real Madrid striker Gonzalo Higuain is set to stay with Napoli in the summer. At least according to his brother, and agent, Nicolas. Nicolas told Radio Kiss Kiss Napoli: "We have a contract and there's no chance of playing elsewhere. When Gonzalo plays it's normal that there's a high chance of scoring goals, he's having a great season."

Written by Tris Burke February 21 2016 08:31:17